Pineapple Shrimp Curried Fried Rice

This is so good, I made it again today. I’m making it again Wednesday (Mark and Em, consider this a preview dinner). It’s so good… and it’s so easy!

I’ll admit that the recipe looks a little long — there’s a lot of ingredients — but this is one of those use-whatever-the-heck-is-in-the-fridge recipes. The reason that I made this again tonight is that we just got back from a weekend away and have no food in the fridge, besides general staples (rice, soy sauce, frozen veggies, frozen meats, onions and garlic). This is something we’re able to throw together in a pinch — and it’ll taste good even if a few ingredients are missing. I mean, keep the curry powder, but you can forget the peas if you have to (I did tonight!).

This is adapted from a recipe for “Thai” fried rice, but since it calls for curry powder, it may end up tasting more Indian than Thai, which is fine and dandy to me. Curry powders vary a lot (that’s why I prefer to make my own blends of spices, as in the Curried Lentil Burgers), but if you have one you like, this is the kind of recipe that it’ll be perfect for. After all, fried rice is just a blank palate for whatever flavors you want to put in it — make it your own!

Pineapple Shrimp Curried Fried Rice

Serves four (at least!)

Adapted from Closet Cooking

• 1 tablespoon neutral cooking oil
• 8 ounces small uncooked shrimp, deveined
• salt & freshly ground black pepper
• ½ teaspoon cornstarch
• 3 cloves garlic (minced)
• 1 small onion (diced)
• 1 jalepeño (minced)
• 1 red bell pepper (diced)
• ½ cup cashews (roasted, optional)
• 3 tablespoons chicken stock (or vegetable broth)
• 3 tablespoons fish sauce (or soy sauce)
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 3 cups cooked rice (preferably a day old)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup pineapple (cut into bite sized pieces)
• ¼ cup peas (fresh or frozen)
• 2 green onions (sliced)
• ¼ cup cilantro (chopped)

Toss shrimp with salt, pepper and cornstarch. Let the shrimp marinate for 10 minutes at room temperature. Heat a wok or large frying pan on high heat. Flick a bead of water onto the pan – if the bead sizzles, the pan is ready.

Add a tablespoon of the cooking oil, then add the shrimp, spreading them out so that they form only one layer on the bottom of the pan. Let the shrimp fry, untouched for 30 seconds. Flip over and let the other side fry for 30 seconds, or until about 80% cooked through (still pinky in the middle). Remove the shrimp onto a plate, leaving as much oil in the pan as possible.

Now add the onion, garlic, chillies and red pepper and stir-fry until fragrant, about a minute. Then add the chicken stock, fish (or soy) sauce, curry powder and sugar and stir-fry to mix. Add the cashews and stir-fry to mix for another 30 seconds.

Add the rice, break up any clumps, and spread it out so that it forms an even layer across the bottom of the pan. Let the moisture steam out of the rice a bit (1-2 minutes or a bit more, depending on how moist your rice is), then flip it all over do the same thing on the other side.

When the rice is looking more “fried”, make two wells in the rice and crack an egg into each. Let it rest 30 seconds, then break the yolk and stir the egg up a bit, still keeping the egg in the wells. Cover the wells with rice and let stand for up to one minute. When the egg has cooked a bit, scramble them into the fried rice.

Finally, add the pineapple, shrimp, and peas, and stir-fry to mix them in and heat them through. Remove from heat and serve garnished with chopped green onions and cilantro.

Tagged as: Asian, curry, dinner, Shrimp, stir fry